BT tests 10 gigabit broadband

BT has announced that it’s providing a trial 10Gbps to a Cornish enterprise client. The service will provide the firm an unprecedented amount of bandwidth that outstrips the highest recorded peak for the media network.

Arcol UK Ltd, an electronics company based in Cornwall, is currently testing the experimental network alongside its existing 330Mbps service as they both run on the same fibre optic cables.

“These hyper-fast speeds have been obtained over exactly the same fibre that carries BT’s fibre broadband services today. All we are doing is changing the electronics at either end,” noted the director of the programme, Ranulf Scarbrough.

The new service utilises XGPON technology which is developed by Chinese engineering company ZTE. BT views this trial as a “proof of concept” for the use of existing fibre optics infrastructure for the future hyperfast network.

“This trial shows we are thinking and ready for the future even though there are no current plans to deploy this technology,” added Scarbourgh.

“A lot of this project is about future proofing – making sure that it’s not just the fastest speeds today but that we can continue to be at the cutting edge for five, 10, 20 years.”

The telecoms representative went on to stress that deployment plans remain a future prospect as “there is nothing that can be done on the Web with 10Gbps.”